Bucks Trade Candidate: Kevon Looney

It’s full steam ahead with another potential Bucks target in our trade candidate series, with the deadline two weeks from today. We’ve already profiled Toumani Camara, Robert Williams II, and Trey Lyles. Now we consider on a well-known member of multiple title teams who happens to be from Milwaukee.

The Player

Kevon Looney, 6’9“, 222 lb. big man

Seson averages: 5.3 PPG. 6.9 RPG, 1.8 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.3 BPG .542/.000/.449/

If you’ve watched the Golden State Warriors at any point in the last decade, it’s likely you’ve seen Milwaukee Hamilton and UCLA alum Kevon Looney play a significant role in their success. Sure, he’s never been more than a role player fo them and is hardly a scorer, but he’s deeply entwined in the fabric of that franchise, winning three rings with them. On both their 2018 and 2022 championship squads, he was a dependable 20 MPG guy who provided strong rebounding and screens that were mostly legal. He also is a versatile defender who Steve Kerr trusted in the Dubs’ switch-heavy scheme, able to deal with bigs and even some guards.

Obviously, he’s never been a guy you turn to for offense. 85% of his career attempts have come within ten feet, but his career-high in field goal attempts per game is just 4.3. He’ll dunk, make putbacks, catch a lob here and there or perhaps a floater, but that’s really it. He’s also always been a well-below average free throw shooter, but he’s not at the line too often since the ball isn’t in his hands too much. With a career usage of just 12.4%, his offensive value derives from an elite offensive rebound rate (18.8% this year, best among players with 500+ minutes) and screensetting.

Looney was rarely more than a guy at the end of the rotation, though in 2021–22 and 2022–23 he appeared in every game, starting 80 and 70, respectively. In fact, after dealing with hip injuries, neuropathy and core muscle surgery earlier in his career, he played 290 straight games until that streak ended last March. He missed just eight games last year and six so far this season. He averages about six fewer minutes per game than in 2022–23, though, as Golden State has leaned more into starting Draymond Green at the five while also introducing Trayce Jackson-Davis into their lineups.

Despite being around seemingly forever, though, Looney is just about to turn 29 years old—in fact, his birthday is the trade deadline. He’s in the final year of a three-year, $22.5m extension and makes $8m this season before hitting unrestricted free agency this July. Though his role has decreased in recent seasons, it seems likely he still has a few years of productive ball left in him, and his per-36 numbers aren’t much different than they’ve been throughout his career.

The Trade

It’s a three-teamer that the Bucks sneak in on! Reporting from ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk earlier this week indicated that two Western Conference execs think the Warriors could be interested in Nikola Vučević from the Bulls, and the “ideal situation” would be to trade expiring contracts for him. Looney would be one of them, heading to Milwaukee, while Gary Payton II would head to Chicago as the other. GPII has fallen off even further while dealing with injuries since the title run, so he’s really just a way for Chicago to get out of some money on his expiring dealfirst, but more on that later.

Vooch has one more year left on his contract after this one at $21.5m and is a versatile offensive player whose three-point shooting would fit well in The Bay. He averages a double-double on .554/.411/.809 shooting, and though he’s never defended much, he can certainly play next to Green. But the other end is the bigger issue right now: Golden State has gone 7-17 after the starting the season 12-3, and in that time they’ve ranked an uncharacteristic 26th in offensive rating. They’ve slipped to 11th in the East, where they’re duking it out with Sacramento, Minnesota, Phoenix, and San Antonio.

To make this work, Golden State would have to send out one cheaper player—22-year-old forward Gui Santos, in this case. Santos has been in their rotation of late, even picking up his first career start as they’ve navigated injuries to Green and Jonathan Kuminga. He flashed some shooting in one of those outings, so perhaps there’s something there for the Bulls. They would also net a first-round pick from the Warriors, who can trade any of their first round picks between now and 2028, or pick swaps in 2029 and 2031.

Of course, the Dubs are in danger of missing the playoffs, and even if they make it, their pick projects to be in the late teens. It would make sense to protect it for at least the lottery, and though the Fanspo trade machine doesn’t allow you to when constructing fake trades, Golden State can protect it 1–18, for example. If their pick falls within that range, it would roll over to 2026, where they could have 1–10 protections, perhaps. Since they control their picks through 2028, they could even add another year. A mid-to-late first rounder for Vooch might be something the Dubs do, the way their season is going with a soon-to-be 37-year-old Steph Curry.

The Bucks would not just gain Looney, but they would own his Bird rights this summer when he becomes a free agent, allowing them to re-sign him on anything up to his max with no regard to the cap, should they desire. They’d send out Pat Connaughton’s $9.4m salary in order to take back a player making $8m, but herein lies the potential rub for Chicago. For them, it would clearly be preferable to swap Vučević for the expiring salaries of both Payton and Looney, freeing up their cap sheet this summer. To reroute Looney to his hometown but take on Connaughton, who likely will opt in to the final year of his contract this summer, they’d need to be incentivized.

That’s where the Bucks’ 2031 second-round pick comes in. Would that be enough? If not, they may need to include a young player like Tyler Smith or Chris Livingston. Since their salaries would not be needed to acquire Looney—Milwaukee is trading away more salary in only Connaughton than they’re taking back—neither would have to be aggregated. The Bucks would just have to treat it as two separate trades while the others treat it as one, which is perfectly legal per Spotrac’s Keith Smith.

That presents more problems for Chicago, though. In the above trade, they’re acquiring three players for one, and with their roster already full, they’d have to open two spots somehow. Waiving little-used wing Chris Duarte or trading him without any salary coming back (say, for a top-55 protected future second) is the clearest choice to begin with. Oft-injured former Buck Torrey Craig would be the next one. Buying them out or waiving them could even save the Bulls some money.

But adding another player to the deal coming 90 miles south from Milwaukee would mean subtracting yet another member of the current roster. Former Buck Jevon Carter also doesn’t play much, but has a player option on his deal this summer and would thus be hard to trade or require stretching salary if he’s waived. Talen Horton-Tucker doesn’t get lots of run either, but he’s a Chicago native. The hope here would be that Milwaukee’s 2031 second would be enough incentive to take on a year of Connaughton.

The Fit

Now, some Warriors fans will tell you that Looney’s best days are behind him, but the Bucks wouldn’t be bringing him in to be a key rotation cog, or even an every-night guy. Neither would it be strictly a salary-dump move plus the good vibes of having a native son back in the 414. And it’s not just an example of “hey, anyone is better than Pat Connaughton at this point.”

All these statements might be true, but mainly, I like the fit of Looney as a change-of-pace, versatile big deeper off the bench, used only as truly needed. We’re all well aware of Bobby Portis’ defensive liabilities, and while Brook Lopez is still one of the league’s best rim protectors, he’s not ideal for some matchups. Looney might not be as good of a shot-blocker as Lopez, but he can switch onto other positions in ways the elder center simply cannot while still being a deterrent down low. And with either current Buck’s shooting, Looney can play alongside them while they space the floor. He’d take the tougher big man assignment off Portis’ hands and handle smaller, quicker forwards while Lopez is in drop coverage.

As with all potential Bucks, though, we need to evaluate the fit with Giannis and Damian Lillard. Looney is a classic dunker spot guy, so the other four guys on the court need to be threats from outside, or else someone will be getting double teamed, much like when Andre Jackson Jr. is out there. AJax and Looney lineups would have to be used very sparingly, and you can forget about AJax, Looney, and Giannis. Opposing defenses would freely help off AJax onto Giannis or Dame while their big only has to prevent lobs to Looney.

But with a lineup of, say, Dame, AJ Green, Taurean Prince, and Khris Middleton, you have plenty of shooting to mitigate doubling. And I see how it could work alongside Giannis too, again when the frontcourt duo of him and Looney being surrounded by shooting. A pretty formidable and versatile two-way lineup would be Looney, Giannis, Prince, Green, and Ryan Rollins. Not tons of creation, but a good way to keep defenses honest while Giannis goes to work with a few marksman behind him.

The general idea here is that the Bucks could turn to Looney in big postseason moments when the opponent is a bad matchup for Lopez (like Boston) and Portis is hurting them more on D than he’s helping them on the other end, if he’s even helping them. Portis has had plenty of poor postseason performances since the 2021 title run, and even then he was benched against Brooklyn. With Looney, when an opposing forward or big like Evan Mobley, Pascal Siakam, Paolo Banchero, or even Karl-Anthony Towns is a problem that neither Lopez or Portis can solve, you now have a much more trustworthy option than either.

Another plus is that he doesn’t even need to be in the rotation night-to-night in the regular season to fill the role I just described. He’d be the Bucks’ 10th or 11th man when everyone is healthy and that’s something of a luxury. Milwaukee hasn’t needed a fourth big much in recent years, and really never in the playoffs, thanks to Lopez’s and Portis’ continued good health. But more than injury/foul trouble insurance, Looney offers flexibility the others cannot.

Thoughts on Looney? Is trading the 2031 second too rich for your blood? Do you think Chicago will continue holding tight to Vooch or would Golden State not give up a protected first for him? Feel free to chime in below, and we’ll be back with another installment in the series next week.